12.  And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.

Exodus 32:30   The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”

Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.

Ezekiel 18:4    Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.

Psalms 109:13-14     May his posterity be cut off; may his name be blotted out in the second generation!  May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!

Revelation 13:8     and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

Revelation 20:12     And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

Psalms 69:28    Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

These are some serious words of judgment for those who disregard God.  I was speaking with a seminary student recently and they made a comment that got me to thinking.  They said “Christianity today spells out our walk with God in the big moment choices, being born again and baptism, but our walk is more than a big moment choice.  It is a life of sacrifice of self for unity, for showing love, for being generous, for being kind, to allow ourselves to be wronged and forgive the act against us.

I wonder if preaching today speaks to the big moments and does not talk of the daily walk that humbly serves, honors, glorifies, follows, and obeys God over self and society pressures. You don’t have to look far to see the lives of those who claim the big moment choices but you see no fruit in their lives.  In fact, there is very little difference in their life from those who do not believe in God.  Fruit of the Spirit is cultivated over a lifetime of daily walking with God, daily spending time in His word, daily seeking to hear Him, daily desiring to be led by Him, daily wanting to honor and glorify Him, daily wanting sin in their life exposed so they can confess it and be forgiven, daily wanting to be used by Him, daily surrendering self-wants and desires, daily seeking to show the light of Jesus Christ into a dark world, daily looking for God moments with the lost, daily seeking to make disciples.

Every day is a choice of self or God. One leads to being blotted out and the other to eternal life.